North Andover High School - Knight Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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19 4 1 THE GOBBLER SALUTATORY WERE WE BORN FATALLY LATE? When we hear our parents and grandparents speaking about the “good old days”, many of us pity ourselves and feel that we were horn fatally late. We think, “There aren ' t any new lands to he explored, or frontiers to be opened and there aren’t many more things that can be invented. Yes, perhaps we were born fatally late!” But first, let us look at the advantages offered to women today as compared with those offered in the nineteenth century. After the Civil War, a woman’s place was in the home and there she remained, except when invited out by a man. The only occupations available to women of gentle breeding were those of school-teaching and nursing. Women probably became teachers because teaching was the one occupation which tied in closely with the life of the home and because for a long time it was felt that no special preparation was needed. Nursing was another occupation which tied in quite closely with the home. However, there were no regulations as to how long a nurse should spend on one case, the pay was not too good, and the work was usually the same monotonous, routine drudgery. Women also worked in shops, factories, and large stores from seven-thirty in the morning until nine or ten at night and for this health-ruining work received approximately five dollars a week. I do not mean to say that women have never been anything hut housewives, nurses or teachers. There were empresses and queens, women physicians and women writers, even before the nineteenth century, but they were regarded as very unusual. Such women felt themselves superior to other women and didn’t encourage the belief that there should be more opportunities for women in general. For the past fifty years women have fought to gain a place in the business and professional world. Suppose a girl and her brother went on a hike. The boy, whom convention had clothed more sensibly, wore long pants and high boots, and plunged on ahead unhindered by the underbrush. But the girl, who wore the tradi¬ tional skirt of women, was hindered by briars and brambles. This same condition is true in women’s fight for a place in the world. Some of the brambles the world has placed before women are the ideas that: the woman who works outside her home loses social position; she lessens her chances of marriage; she does not take proper care of her home. All these statements have been proved false by statistical studies. A study was made of one hundred professional women, who had homes and chil¬ dren to take care of. Their attitude was that because of their professional training they have higher standards for their homes and as a result have more successful homes than they would otherwise have. The single woman who works is made inde¬ pendent of all her relatives. In the nineteenth century a girl, who didn’t care to get married (or didn’t have the chance), and who didn’t care to become a teacher or a nurse, had to depend on some generous father or brother to support her. Women who have reached middle age and find their children are able to get along without them, can and are entering commercial, industrial and professional work. Now let us look at the occupations available to women today. Women are still be¬ coming nurses and teachers, hut how different it is now! ()ne has a choice of teach¬ ing in kindergarten, grammar school, high school or college. It is necessary to have 5 O the Principal, to the faculty, to parents and friends, it is my pleasure, on behalf of the Class of 1941, to extend to you all, a most cordial welcome. 23

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194 1 THE GOBBLER GRADUATION PROGRAM Entrance March Prayer Rev. Alexander S. Twombley Response Chorus Class Salutatory with Essay — “Were We Born Fatally Late?” Barbara P. Dearden “Glow Worm” Paul Lincke Chorus Class Essay — “Youth Will Shoulder Its Burdens” Thomas Barbour Lesure “The Forest Dance” Arthur B. Targett Chorus Class Oration — “The Secret of Success is Constancy of Purpose” John Joseph Greenler Piano Solo — Faust Waltz Gounod-Liszt Robert Leo Garneau Presentation of Prizes The Principal North Andover Woman’s Club Scholarship Award Mrs. John W. Hegarty Presentation of Diplomas Rev. Clinton W. Carvell “The Lost Chord” Arthur Sullivan Chorus Essay with Valedictory — “Education for Democracy” Joseph Charles Finneran Class Song — “Adieu Johnson High” Arlene V. Smith Graduates Exit March 22

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THE GOBBLER 19 4 1 specialized training for each subject that one wishes to teach. Nursing, too, has be¬ come a very specialized field. There are surgical nurses, medical nurses, nurses for doctors who specialize in throat and nose treatment, public health nurses, head nurses in hospitals, schools, government buildings or business organizations, and army and navy nurses. Many girls take a shorter training course and become technicians, dieti¬ tians or social workers. Nursing is no longer dull and uninteresting. Women’s ambitions have extended to theology, law, and medicine. Perhaps the fact that generous scholarships are available in the theological schools to men, but not to women, may explain the small number of women students in the divinity schools which are open to them. Women lawyers who have suffered greater handicaps in establishing a practise than women doctors — apparently we are more cautious about our money than about our health — have made great headway in the past ten years. Women have been successful in art, dramatic work, music and writing. Some women felt safer writing under the nom dc plume of men as did George Sand and George Eliot who were both women. In the commercial field, women stenographers out¬ number by far the male stenographers. This may be because women are more effi¬ cient than men, but that is a matter of opinion. Today women may become beauti¬ cians, air hostesses, buyers for large stores, policewomen, librarians and they have even invaded politics. Some women have rather unusual occupations. One woman in Hollywood raises spiders and rents them to movie companies. Prescribing for sick fish is the occupation of Miss Ida Millen. By merely looking at the eyes of a fish, she can tell what ails it. Mary Hirsch likes to train horses and has proved herself an able jockey. There are many, many more, too numerous to mention. Our aspirations have been inspired by such great women as Florence Nightingale, Jane Addams and Madame Curie. Those who have vision and foresight can see that gleam of opportunity that lies ahead. So, when we hear about the thrills and adven¬ tures of the “good old days’’, these lines of Tennyson’s will make us realize that we were not born “fatally late.” “So, young mariner, Down to the haven Call your companions Launch your vessel, Crowd your canvas, And ere it vanishes O’er the horizon, After it, follow it, Follow the gleam!” BARBARA P. DEARDEN j 24